Meridian Motor Group to build two new Hyundai showrooms

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Meridian Motor Group has announced plans to build a flagship Hyundai dealership in Stockport and a new site in Preston.

The new Stockport dealership will see group turnover increase to more than £200m a year and will be Meridian’s 10th acquisition since January as the business celebrates its 10 year anniversary.

Following the purchase of a site at Kings Reach in Stockport, the business will spend £2.5m building a new dealership.

Trading under Meridian’s ‘Vantage’ brand, work on the new dealership will begin later this month, with a completion date scheduled for summer 2014.

Located next to the M60 motorway, the site will be Vantage’s biggest Hyundai dealership, filling one of Hyundai’s most important open points, and will feature a 10 car showroom, an eight bay workshop and space for 60 used cars.

Meridian has also received planning permission to build a new 10 car showroom on the site of the existing Vantage Toyota dealership in Preston.

Work is expected to start in December with the new dealership expected to open in the late spring, creating 10 new jobs.

In total, Meridian has invested around £5m developing its four Hyundai dealerships in Salford, Stockport, Oldham and Preston.

In the past 12 months, Meridian has more than doubled annual turnover from £65m to over £170m and increased the number of sites from seven in Yorkshire and Lancashire, to 17 across the North of England and the West Midlands.

The business will increase annual car sales from 5,000 at the end of 2012 to more than 13,000 and increase its workforce from 180 to over 400 in the same period.

Mark Robinson, Meridian Motor Group managing director, said: “It’s been a remarkable year for Meridian and the Stockport acquisition is part of the final stage of a planned but rapid phase of growth that has seen us develop a significant Hyundai presence in Greater Manchester in under two years.

“After growing at such a pace, it is important that, once a couple more planned acquisitions are complete, the business enters a phase of consolidation to ensure that we are able to maintain the strong values and focus on customer service that has made the Vantage name a success. However if the right opportunities develop, we won’t rule out further acquisitions in the future as long as they add value to the business.”

Meridian is based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and represents Toyota, Lexus, Kia, Honda and Hyundai.

The business opened its first Hyundai dealership in Salford in 2011 and now has four Hyundai dealerships across the North West of England, with 17 dealerships in total.